Electronic system having a hard disk drive with transparent cover, flashing device, and with specially decorated top plate or hub for storage applications with a visually observable disk

ABSTRACT

An electronic system having a hard disk drive is provided with a transparent cover that allows the elements of the disk drive to be observed while they are in operation. The cover also can be tinted with different colors or made somewhat translucent for further differentiation. In addition, decorations and/or various patterns, such as a diffraction grating pattern, may be placed or formed on the cover, the hub, and/or the actuator to further emphasize particular aspects of the disk drive. A flashing device can also be used to accentuate the rotational motion of the disk and/or hub.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates in general to an improved system thatutilizes a hard disk drive and, in particular, to an improved electronicsystem having a hard disk drive with a transparent cover, flashingdevice, and specially decorated top plate or hub for storageapplications with a visually observable disk drive.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a data access and storage system consists of one or morestorage devices that store data on magnetic or optical storage media.For example, a magnetic storage device is known as a direct accessstorage device (DASD) or a hard disk drive (HDD) and includes one ormore disks and a disk controller to manage local operations concerningthe disks. The hard disks themselves are usually made of aluminum alloyor a mixture of glass and ceramic, and are covered with a magneticcoating. Typically, one to six disks are stacked on a common spindlethat is turned by a disk drive motor at several thousand revolutions perminute (rpm). Hard disk drives have several different typical standardsizes or formats, including server, desktop, mobile (2.5 and 1.8 inches)and microdrive.

A typical HDD also utilizes an actuator assembly. The actuator movesmagnetic read/write heads to the desired location on the rotating diskso as to write information to or read data from that location. Withinmost HDDs, the magnetic read/write head is mounted on a slider. A slidergenerally serves to mechanically support the head and any electricalconnections between the head and the rest of the disk drive system. Thesurface of the slider facing the disk is aerodynamically shaped tocreate an air bearing in order to maintain a uniform distance from thesurface of the rotating disk, thereby preventing the head fromundesirably contacting the disk.

Typically, a slider is formed with an aerodynamic pattern of protrusionson its air bearing surface (ABS) that enables the slider to fly at asubstantially constant height close to the disk during operation of thedisk drive. A slider is associated with each side of each disk and fliesjust over the disk's surface. Each slider is mounted on a suspension toform a head gimbal assembly (HGA). The HGA is then attached to asemi-rigid actuator arm that supports the entire head flying unit.Several semi-rigid arms may be combined to form a single movable unithaving either a linear bearing or a rotary pivotal bearing system.

The head and arm assembly is linearly or pivotally moved utilizing amagnet/coil structure that is often called a voice coil motor (VCM). Thestator of a VCM is mounted to a base plate or casting on which thespindle is also mounted. The base casting with its spindle, actuatorVCM, and internal filtration system is then enclosed with a cover andseal assembly to ensure that no contaminants can enter and adverselyaffect the reliability of the slider flying over the disk. When currentis fed to the motor, the VCM develops a torque that is substantiallyproportional to the applied current. The arm acceleration is thereforesubstantially proportional to the magnitude of the current. As theread/write head approaches a desired track, a reverse polarity signal isapplied to the actuator, causing the signal to act as a brake, andideally causing the read/write head to stop and settle directly over thedesired track.

Hard disk drives are virtually anonymous among mass consumers ofcomputers, pocket computers, mobile phones, MP3 players and devices thatinvolve storage devices. For example, users of digital cameras, MP3players, etc., are typically unaware of the distinction between flashmemory and the Microdrive™. One potential source of this confusion maybe that some memory devices are misleadingly described as “disk drivelike” (e.g., the SanDisk, which is actually flash memory). Consumershave been impressed and fascinated when they learn that the memorydevice that looks just like flash memory is in fact a disk drive thatworks just like the one in their personal computer.

Unfortunately, disk drives are located inside the machines in which theyoperate and they are sealed inside completely opaque housings. Thus,consumers are unable to appreciate the mechanical and electricalengineering of the operation of disk drives. It would be advantageous tosomehow overcome the limitations of displaying disk drives while theyare in operation in order to distinguish those machines that utilizedisk drives instead of flash memory. Such a solution would provide aninteresting, attractive, and distinctive product in the marketplace.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of a system having a hard disk drive is provided with atransparent or partially transparent top cover. When the disk drive isoperating as a storage device for a machine, the inner workings of thedisk drive are visible from an exterior of the disk drive. Using apartial transparent cover is a convenient way to solve mechanicalproblems that may result from elastic properties of completelytransparent materials. The cover also can be tinted with differentcolors or made somewhat translucent for further differentiation. Inaddition, various patterns, such as a diffraction grating pattern, maybe placed or formed on the cover to further emphasize particular aspectsof the transparent cover disk drive.

The disks in the disk drive spin at high rates of speed, which aretypically on the order of 4,200 to 15,000 rpm, depending on the productclass. Such speeds are visually unobservable to the unassisted humaneye. However, when the disk drive or the machine using the disk drive isequipped with a flashing device (e.g., a stroboscope), the rotationalmotion of the disk is virtually “captured,” which is apparent at the tophub holding the disk stack. The flashing device exposes the series ofthe positions of the hub, corresponding to the much smaller apparentrotational velocity. In particular, if the frequency of the flashingdevice is properly adjusted, it will appear to the human eye that therotational velocity of the disk is much lower. For example, if the disksare spinning at 7,200 rpm, the flashing device operating at 119 Hz makesthe disk appear to be spinning at only one rotation per second, which iseasily observable by the unassisted human eye.

When the flashing device is turned off or not desirable to enhance themotion and/or appearance of the disk drive, alternative decorations oneither the hub, the top disk in the disk stack, or both offer additionalvisual interest. The decorations may comprise different materials suchas diffraction grating or other devices. In conjunction with rotation ofthe disk, the decorations cause appearance of color, and change andmovement of color depending on the angle of observation, whichadditionally contributes to the appearance of the disk drive. As anadditional alternative, the actuator arm in the disk drive may bedecorated with the same device to emphasize its movement. Furthermore,diffraction grating may be placed or etched into the transparent coverabove the actuator arm, which displays colors when the highly reflectiveactuator arm is moving. In addition, the top hub, top disk surface, andtop surface of the actuator arm may be used for marketing purposes, suchas advertisement placements, with or without flashing device help.

The disk drive of the present invention is mounted to a machine so thatit is easily observable by the user of the machine. Examples of possibleimplementations include desktop computers of retrograde-looking designswith front-mounted disk drives that are reminiscent of old mainframecomputers (analogous as the “PT Cruiser” of desktop computers), MP3players with a disk drive that is observable from one side of theplayer, pocket PC with a partially exposed 1-inch disk drive, etc.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present inventionwill be apparent to those skilled in the art, in view of the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, taken in conjunction with the appended claims and theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the features and advantages of theinvention, as well as others which will become apparent are attained andcan be understood in more detail, more particular description of theinvention briefly summarized above may be had by reference to theembodiment thereof which is illustrated in the appended drawings, whichdrawings form a part of this specification. It is to be noted, however,that the drawings illustrate only an embodiment of the invention andtherefore are not to be considered limiting of its scope as theinvention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of one embodiment of a hard disk drive shownwith the cover exploded and is constructed in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of another embodiment of a hard disk driveshown with the cover exploded and is constructed in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of yet another embodiment of a hard diskdrive shown with the cover removed and is constructed in accordance withthe present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts the incremental effect of a flashing device on the hub ofthe disk drive of FIG. 3 and is constructed in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of a portion of still another embodiment of a harddisk drive and is constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of an electronic system having an electronicdevice equipped with a hard disk drive constructed in accordance withthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic drawing of one embodiment of aninformation storage system comprising a magnetic hard disk file or drive111 for a computer system is shown. Hard disk drive 111 has an outerhousing or base 113 containing a disk pack having at least one media ormagnetic disk 115. The disks 115 are rotated by a spindle motor assemblyhaving a central drive hub 117. An actuator 121 comprises a plurality ofparallel actuator arms 125 (one shown) in the form of a comb that ismovably or pivotally mounted to base 113 about a pivot assembly 123. Acontroller is also mounted to base 113 for selectively moving the combof arms 125 relative to disks 115.

In the embodiment shown, each arm 125 has extending from it at least onecantilevered load beam and suspension 127. A magnetic read/writetransducer or head is mounted on a slider 129 and secured to a flexurethat is flexibly mounted to each suspension 127. The read/write headsmagnetically read data from and/or magnetically write data to disks 115.The level of integration called the head gimbal assembly is head and theslider 129, which are mounted on suspension 127. The slider 129 isusually bonded to the end of suspension 127. The head is typically picosize (approximately 1250×1000×300 microns) and formed from ceramic orintermetallic materials. The head also may be of “femto” size(approximately 850×700×230 microns) and is pre-loaded against thesurface of disks 115 (in the range two to ten grams) by suspension 127.

Suspensions 127 have a spring-like quality, which biases or urges theair bearing surface of the slider 129 against the disks 115 to cause theslider 129 to fly at a precise distance from the disks 115. A voice coil133 free to move within a conventional voice coil motor magnet assembly134 is also mounted to arms 125 opposite the head gimbal assemblies.Movement of the actuator 121 (indicated by arrow 135) by the controllermoves the head gimbal assemblies along radial arcs across tracks on thedisks 115 until the heads settle on their respective target tracks. Thehead gimbal assemblies operate in a conventional manner and always movein unison with one another, unless the hard disk drive 111 uses multipleindependent actuators (not shown) wherein the arms can moveindependently of one another.

Referring again to FIG. 1, one embodiment of the present inventioncomprises the hard disk drive 111 configured with a transparent cover151. The cover 151 is mounted to the housing 113 for covering andpreferably sealing the disks 115 and the actuator 121 in the housing113. The cover 151 allows or permits observation of at least somemovement inside the housing 113 through the cover 151 during operationof the hard disk drive 111. In the version shown, the cover 151 permitsobservation of at least the top disk 115, the hub 117, and the actuator121. Such observation is visible to the unassisted human eye and doesnot require any special equipment for perceiving the movement inside thehard disk drive 111. Alternatively, the cover 151 may be completelytransparent and clear, tinted with a color or colors, and/or may beprovided as translucent rather than transparent.

A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 2. In thisembodiment, a hard disk drive 211 is equipped with a cover 251 having aportion 253 or portions that are at least partially transparent orpartially translucent. Another portion 255 or portions of the cover 251are opaque. The illustrated embodiment of 251 is not intended to belimited in any manner whatsoever. Rather, cover 251 and portions 253,255 may be configured in an almost infinite number of patterns, shapes,sizes, and colors. In one embodiment, the opaque portion 255 is formedfrom a material(s) that structurally reinforces the cover 251. Hard diskdrive 211 is identical to hard disk drive 111, other than its cover 251.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a third embodiment of the present invention isshown as hard disk drive 311. In this embodiment, the hard disk drive311 is not shown with a cover, but is equipped with a cover as describedabove for the previous embodiments. The further distinguishing featureof this version of the invention is the addition of a flashing device361. The flashing device 361 may be mounted to the housing 313 or to anelectronic device 603 (FIG. 6), for which the hard disk drive (e.g.,drives 111, 211, 311) provides data storage and/or retrieval. Theflashing device 361 emits pulses of light at regular intervals of timefor making movement inside the housing 313 appear to move at a speedthat is less than an actual speed of the movement. In one embodiment,the flashing device 361 comprises a stroboscope. Depending on theconfiguration of the cover for hard disk drive 311, the flashing device361 can make the disk 315, the hub 317, and/or the actuator 321 appearto move at speeds that are less than their actual speeds. Hard diskdrive 311 is otherwise identical to hard disk drives 111, 211.

As shown in FIG. 4, the flashing device 361 can expose a series of thepositions 365 of the hub 317, corresponding to a much smaller apparentrotational velocity. For example, if the frequency of the flashingdevice 361 is adjusted to be f=[rpm(disk)−rpm(apparent)]/60, then itwill appear to the human eye that the rotational velocity of the disks315 is rpm(apparent)=rpm(disk)−60f. If the disks 315 are spinning 7200rpm, the flashing device 361 operating at 119 Hz-makes the disks 315appear to be spinning at 7200−119*60=60 rpm, or one rotation per second,which is easily observable by the human eye. It is also possible tointentionally synchronize the flashing device 361 with the movement ofthe actuator 321 and/or arm to achieve certain visual effects related tothe actuator arm. For example, the actuator can be made to appearstationary by intentionally turning on the flashing device always at thesame spatial position of the actuator arm. Alternatively, the actuatorcan be made to appear making certain selected movements.

When the flashing device is turned off or not desirable to enhance themotion and/or appearance of the disk drive, alternative decorations 571,573 (FIG. 5) on the hub 517, the top disk 515 in the disk stack, theactuator 521, and/or the cover offer additional visual interest. Thedecorations 571, 573 cause appearance of color, and change and movementof color depending on an angle of observation to additionally contributeto an appearance of the hard disk drive. The decorations 571, 573 maycomprise a pattern, such as a diffraction grating pattern, toadditionally contribute to an appearance of the hard disk drive.

In operation (FIG. 6), the hard disk drives of the present invention aredesigned to provide data storage and/or retrieval for an electronicsystem 601. Along with one or more of the hard disk drives of thepresent invention, the electronic system 601 may comprise, for example,an electronic device 603, such as a desktop computer of aretrograde-looking design, an MP3 player, a mobile telephone, or apocket PC, to name a few. The electronic device 603 has a need for adata storage and/or retrieval device during operation. The hard diskdrives are mounted to the electronic device 603 such that at least aportion of each of the hard disk drives is observable by a user of theelectronic system 601 during operation of the electronic system 601. Inthis way, the features of the previously described embodiments of thehard disk drives are readily visible to the user of the electronicsystem 601. Also, the cover of the disk drive may be formed as anintegrated part of the cover of the whole machine, such as theelectronic device 603.

In addition, the present invention also comprises a method of making ahard disk drive more visually stimulating, as described above. Again,any of the embodiments of the present invention may be used. The methodcomprises providing the hard disk drive with a housing, a disk that isrotatable relative to the housing, an actuator that is movable relativeto the disk, and a cover that is at least partially transparent. Thehard disk drive is mounted to an electronic device 603 (FIG. 6) andproviding data storage and/or retrieval for the electronic device 603with the hard disk drive. As a result, the step of permittingobservation of at least some movement inside the housing through thecover while the electronic device is in operation is accomplished.

Alternatively, the method may comprise: permitting observation of thedisk and the actuator, providing a completely transparent and clearcover; providing a cover that is tinted with color; providing atranslucent cover; and/or structurally reinforcing the cover with opaquematerials. The method may further comprise flashing a light on andmaking the movement inside the housing appear to move at a speed that isless than an actual speed of the movement, and/or flashing a light onand making the disk appear to move at a rotational speed that is lessthan an actual rotational speed of the disk. The flashing a light stepmay comprise making the disk, a hub of the disk, and the actuator appearto move at speeds that are less than their actual speeds.

Another alternative of the method includes decorating at least one ofthe disk, the hub, and the actuator, such that the decorations causeappearance of color, and change and movement of color depending on anangle of observation to additionally contribute to an appearance of thehard disk drive. Still another alternative method further comprisespatterning at least one of the disk, a hub of the disk, the actuator,and the cover to additionally contribute to an appearance of the harddisk drive. The patterning step may yet comprise forming a diffractiongrating pattern.

The present invention has several advantages, including a transparentcover that allows the elements of the disk drive to be observed whilethey are in operation. The cover also can be tinted with differentcolors or made somewhat translucent for further differentiation. Inaddition, decorations and/or various patterns, such as a diffractiongrating pattern, may be placed or formed on the cover, the hub, and/orthe actuator to further emphasize particular aspects of the disk drive.A flashing device can also be used to accentuate the rotational motionof the disk and/or hub. In addition, the top hub, top disk surface, andtop surface of the actuator arm may be used for marketing purposes, suchas advertisement placements, with or without flashing device help.

While the invention has been shown or described in only some of itsforms, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that it is notso limited, but is susceptible to various changes without departing fromthe scope of the invention. For example, the features of more than oneembodiment may be utilized on a single hard disk drive, system, and/ormethod.

1. An electronic system, comprising: an electronic device having a needfor a data storage and/or retrieval device during operation; a hard diskdrive mounted to and for providing data storage and/or retrieval for theelectronic device, and at least a portion of the hard disk drive isobservable by a user of the electronic system during operation of theelectronic system; the hard disk drive comprising: a housing; a motormounted to the housing; a disk mounted to the motor, having a hub, andbeing rotatable relative to the housing; an actuator mounted to thehousing and being movable relative to the disk, the actuator having ahead for reading data from and writing data to the disk; and a covermounted to the housing for covering the disk and the actuator in thehousing, the cover being at least partially transparent for allowingobservation of at least some movement inside the housing through thecover during operation of the disk drive.
 2. The electronic system ofclaim 1, wherein the electronic device is a desktop computer of aretrograde-looking design.
 3. The electronic system of claim 1, whereinthe electronic device is an MP3 player.
 4. The electronic system ofclaim 1, wherein the electronic device is a pocket PC.
 5. The electronicsystem of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a mobile telephone.6. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the cover permitsobservation of the disk and the actuator.
 7. The electronic system ofclaim 1, wherein the cover is completely transparent and clear.
 8. Theelectronic system of claim 1, wherein the cover is tinted with a color.9. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the cover is translucent.10. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein the cover is integrallyformed as a cover for both the electronic device and the hard diskdrive.
 11. The electronic system of claim 1, wherein a portion of thecover is structurally reinforced with materials that are opaque.
 12. Theelectronic system of claim 1, further comprising a flashing devicemounted to the housing for making movement inside the housing appear tomove at a speed that is less than an actual speed of the movement. 13.The electronic system of claim 12, wherein the flashing device is astroboscope.
 14. The electronic system of claim 13, wherein the flashingdevice makes the disk, the hub, and the actuator appear to move atspeeds that are less than their actual speeds.
 15. The electronic systemof claim 1, further comprising decorations on at least one of the disk,the hub, and the actuator, wherein the decorations cause appearance ofcolor, and change and movement of color depending on an angle ofobservation to additionally contribute to an appearance of the hard diskdrive.
 16. The electronic system of claim 1, further comprising apattern on at least one of the disk, the hub, the actuator, and thecover to additionally contribute to an appearance of the hard diskdrive.
 17. The electronic system of claim 16, wherein the pattern is adiffraction grating pattern.